New BBC Radio 4 Show Focuses On Carlos Acosta Foundation

A new BBC Radio 4 show, which aired in Feburary 2014, focused on Carlos Acosta and his mission to transform Vittorio Garatti’s Ballet School in Havana into an international dance centre, the work that forms the first major project being undertaken by the Carlos Acosta Foundation.

The celebrated ballet star, Carlos Acosta, is preparing to take on one of his most demanding roles – to save the crumbling ruins of an abandoned ballet school in Cuba.

Vittorio Garatti’s Ballet School in Havana is an extraordinary labyrinth of corridors, graceful arches and majestic domes and has been described as one of the most remarkable buildings of the 20th century. But after its construction the sensuous structures became viewed as indulgent and elitist and the buildings were abandoned and fell into disrepair.

Carlos Acosta has a dream to revive the school and transform it into an international centre for dance and the Arts. His plans have provoked ethical divisions with the original architect, and the restoration project is being seen as a touchstone for how modern Cuba feels about itself and its artistic history. In, Will Carlos Acosta Get to the Pointe, the ballet star travels back to his native country to reveal why this project is so close to his own heart.